1993 AFL season

For the 1993 season of the Arena Football League, see 1993 Arena Football League season.

The 1993 AFL season was the 97th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured fifteen clubs, ran from 26 March until 25 September, and comprised a 20-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top six clubs.

1993 AFL premiership season
Teams	15
Premiers	Essendon 15th premiership
Minor premiers	Essendon 14th minor premiership
Pre-season cup	Essendon 2nd pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	Gavin Wanganeen (Essendon)
Leading goalkicker	Gary Ablett (Geelong)
Attendance
Matches played	157
Total attendance	4,657,489 (29,666 per match)
Highest	96,862 (Grand Final, Essendon vs. Carlton)

The premiership was won by the Essendon Football Club for the 15th time, after it defeated Carlton by 44 points in the 1993 AFL Grand Final.

Foster's Cup

The 1993 Foster's Cup saw Essendon 14.18 (102) defeated Richmond 11.13 (79) in the Grand Final.

Home-and-away season

Round 2

• Carlton and Essendon played out the highest scoring draw in VFL/AFL history.

Round 6

	Round 6
Friday, 30 April (7:38 pm)	Melbourne 22.21 (153)	def.	Richmond 8.12 (60)	MCG (crowd: 33933)	Report
Friday, 30 April (8:38 pm)	Adelaide 12.16 (88)	def. by	Hawthorn 16.9 (105)	Football Park (crowd: 46689)	Report
Saturday, 1 May (2:08 pm)	Essendon 23.18 (156)	def.	Geelong 19.18 (132)	MCG (crowd: 46588)	Report
Saturday, 1 May (2:08 pm)	North Melbourne 35.19 (229)	def.	Sydney 16.9 (105)	Princes Park (crowd: 9230)	Report
Sunday, 2 May (1:15 pm)	Brisbane Bears 17.8 (110)	def.	Fitzroy 12.11 (83)	The Gabba (crowd: 9893)	Report
Sunday, 2 May (2:08 pm)	Carlton 15.11 (101)	def. by	Collingwood 21.11 (137)	MCG (crowd: 86196)	Report
Sunday, 2 May (4:08 pm)	West Coast 19.11 (125)	def.	Footscray 13.6 (84)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 32579)	Report
	Bye St Kilda
In one of the games of the year, Essendon prevailed over Geelong in a very entertaining shoot-out. Gary Ablett put on one of his finest individual displays, kicking 14 goals 7 behinds. At the other end, Paul Salmon kicked 10 goals.

Round 8

	Round 8
Friday, 14 May (8:38 pm)	West Coast 7.16 (58)	def. by	Fitzroy 11.10 (76)	WACA (crowd: 28506)	Report
Saturday, 15 May (2:00 pm)	St Kilda 9.13 (67)	def. by	Essendon 19.11 (125)	Waverley Park (crowd: 43886 )	Report
Saturday, 15 May (2:00 pm)	Carlton 11.12 (78)	def. by	Footscray 15.16 (106)	Princes Park (crowd:  24133)	Report
Saturday, 15 May (2:08 pm)	Collingwood 14.10 (94)	def.	Hawthorn 10.16 (76)	Victoria Park (crowd: 29880)	Report
Sunday, 16 May (2:00 pm)	Geelong 19.14 (128)	def.	Richmond 9.24 (78)	Kardinia Park (crowd: 25224)	Report
Sunday, 16 May (2:15 pm)	Brisbane Bears 33.21 (219)	def.	Sydney 8.9 (57)	The Gabba (crowd:  8916)	Report
Sunday, 16 May (5:38 pm)	Adelaide 19.9 (123)	def.	North Melbourne 18.13 (121)	Football Park (crowd: 45562)	Report
	Bye Melbourne
Against a hapless Sydney team, the Brisbane Bears kicked their highest score in a game - 33.21 (219) - and recorded their biggest win (162 points). Their three-quarter time score of 27.17 (179) also set a League record as the highest three-quarter time score until it was surpassed in 2007. At Football Park, Adelaide came back from 26 points down at three-quarter time against North Melbourne to win by 2 points. Crows full-forward Tony Modra kicked 10 goals, and took the Mark of the Year early in the third quarter, using North's Ian Fairley and teammate Mark Mickan as a stepladder to pull down a strong overhead mark near the goalsquare.

Round 16

	Round 16
Friday, 16 July (8:38 pm)	Adelaide 26.15 (171)	def.	Richmond 4.8 (32)	Football Park (crowd: 45109)	Report
Saturday, 17 July (2:00 pm)	Fitzroy 14.11 (95)	def. by	Carlton 27.19 (181)	Princes Park (crowd: 24987)	Report
Saturday, 17 July (2:00 pm)	Collingwood 21.19 (145)	def.	Footscray 11.15 (81)	Victoria Park (crowd: 26156)	Report
Saturday, 17 July (2:00 pm)	St Kilda 27.15 (177)	def.	Geelong 15.16 (106)	Waverley Park (crowd: 22059)	Report
Saturday, 17 July (2:08 pm)	Melbourne 12.18 (90)	def. by	Hawthorn 16.10 (106)	MCG (crowd: 44303)	Report
Sunday, 18 July (2:08 pm)	Brisbane Bears 15.14 (104)	def. by	North Melbourne 22.14 (146)	The Gabba (crowd: 9609)	Report
Sunday, 18 July (2:08 pm)	Essendon 12.17 (89)	def.	West Coast 13.9 (87)	MCG (crowd: 44507)	Report
	Bye Sydney
Adelaide continued their recent run of good form against Richmond, notching up the biggest win in the club's history to date (139 points). In their previous two clashes, the Crows had won by 110 and 94 points respectively. Tony Modra also kicked his third haul of 10 or more goals in a game, ending up with 13 goals 4 behinds. He had also kicked 10 against the Tigers in Round 1. After being held to only three behinds from four kicks for the afternoon, Essendon full-forward Paul Salmon was awarded a free kick and converted the set shot in the dying minutes to give Essendon a two-point win against the reigning premiers West Coast. The win put Essendon back in the Top Six, and coach Kevin Sheedy acknowledged the importance of the win by waving his jacket in helicopter fashion as he was coming down from the coaches box. This iconic gesture instigated a scarf-waving tradition in matches between the two clubs for several years.

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	Essendon (P)	20	13	6	1	2333	1959	119.1	54
2	Carlton	20	13	6	1	2315	1968	117.6	54
3	North Melbourne	20	13	7	0	2597	2150	120.8	52
4	Hawthorn	20	13	7	0	2166	1858	116.6	52
5	Adelaide	20	12	8	0	2168	1840	117.8	48
6	West Coast	20	12	8	0	1912	1651	115.8	48
7	Geelong	20	12	8	0	2354	2109	111.6	48
8	Collingwood	20	11	9	0	2086	2060	101.3	44
9	Footscray	20	11	9	0	1978	1997	99.0	44
10	Melbourne	20	10	10	0	2101	1873	112.2	40
11	Fitzroy	20	10	10	0	2001	2011	99.5	40
12	St Kilda	20	10	10	0	2040	2166	94.2	40
13	Brisbane Bears	20	4	16	0	1886	2504	75.3	16
14	Richmond	20	4	16	0	1753	2480	70.7	16
15	Sydney	20	1	19	0	1837	2901	63.3	4

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 105.1
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Week one

	Elimination Finals
EF1: Saturday, 4 September (2:30 pm)	North Melbourne 11.3 (69)	def. by	West Coast 17.18 (120)	Waverley Park (crowd: 29147)	Report
EF2: Sunday, 5 September (2:30 pm)	Hawthorn 13.17 (95)	def. by	Adelaide 16.14 (110)	MCG (crowd: 55287)	Report

	Qualifying Final
Saturday, 4 September (7:45 pm)	Essendon 14.14 (98)	def. by	Carlton 15.10 (100)	MCG (crowd: 79739)	Report

Week two

	Semi-finals
SF1: Sunday, 12 September (2:30 pm)	Essendon 16.12 (108)	def.	West Coast 11.10 (76)	MCG (crowd: 75453)	Report
SF2: Saturday, 11 September (2:30 pm)	Carlton 13.8 (86)	def.	Adelaide 8.20 (68)	Waverley Park (crowd: 59233)	Report

Week three

	Preliminary Final
Saturday, 18 September (2:30 pm)	Essendon 17.9 (111)	def.	Adelaide 14.16 (100)	MCG (crowd: 76380)	Report

Week four

	Grand Final
Saturday, 25 September (2:30 pm)	Essendon 20.13 (133)	def.	Carlton 13.11 (89)	MCG (crowd: 96862)	Report
Essendon won its 15th League Premiership. Kevin Sheedy won his third premiership as a League coach.

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Gavin Wanganeen of Essendon.
• The AFLPA MVP was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Michael Long of Essendon.
• The inaugural AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Nathan Buckley of Brisbane.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Sydney.
• The Reserves Grand Final was won by Melbourne against North Melbourne
• The Section 1 State of Origin was won by South Australia against Victoria
• The Section 2 State of Origin was won by Queensland-Northern Territory against Tasmania

Notable events

• Following the release of the Crawford Report, prepared by insolvency expert David Crawford, the clubs voted to make several significant changes to the administrative structure of the AFL during the 1993 season:
  • Firstly, the AFL Commission was expanded from six members to eight, and was given the power to make most administrative decisions relating to the league unilaterally (as opposed to ratification by a vote of club presidents).
  • Secondly, the AFL Board of Directors, after 96 years of operation, voted itself out of existence.
  • Thirdly, the clubs retained the right to veto any Commission decision by a two-thirds majority.
  • Fourthly, with several Victorian clubs, as well as Brisbane and Sydney, being concerned about their long-term viability at the time, a stipulation was also included that any decisions relating to the expulsion, merger or relocation of any club required ratification by a simple majority of all clubs, and the agreement of the club(s) in question.
• The Brisbane Bears, which despite its name had played its home games in Gold Coast at Carrara Stadium for the first six years of its existence, relocated to Brisbane in 1993. Its first home game at its new home ground, the Gabba, against Melbourne in Round 3 resulted in a win.
• At the conclusion of their Round 4 game against Collingwood, St Kilda's Nicky Winmar responded to racial vilification from the Collingwood cheer squad by declaring, "I'm black and proud of it!" while raising his jumper and pointing to his skin, an image which has since become famous. This was also St Kilda's first win at Victoria Park in two decades.
• Brisbane and North Melbourne both set club-record high scores in this season. North Melbourne's 35.19 (229) in Round 6 was then the fifth-highest score of all time, and Brisbane's 33.21 (219) in Round 8 was then the tenth-highest of all time. The opponent in both of these games was Sydney.
• In Round 18, a piglet with the word "PLUGA" and the number four painted on it was released onto the Sydney Cricket Ground during the match between Sydney and St Kilda; play was held up for two to three minutes as it managed to evade capture from trainers, security guards and players. The idea to release the pig had been devised by a small group of Sydney supporters and players the previous week, and was intended as a tactic to put dangerous St Kilda full-forward Tony "Plugger" Lockett off his game. As it happened, Lockett missed the game with injury, but was reportedly enraged when he saw the incident on television.

Sources

• 1993 AFL season at AFL Tables
• 1993 AFL season at Australian Football